Sounds a
bit odd, doesn’t it? But the slightly nutty flavor of the spinach/parmesan
blends well with the walnuts, and the little bit of sweetness complements the
feta and lemon. Lots of good textures too—soft, crispy, and crunchy. This
recipe might look lengthy, but don’t worry. It’s really pretty simple…and I’ve
taken care of the first seven steps for you already.
Step one.
Buy a few bags/boxes of frozen spinach to make something…it doesn’t matter
what.
Step two. Stick
the spinach in the back of the freezer and forget about it.
Step three.
Clean out your freezer months later and spy said forsaken spinach.
Step four.
Decide to make spanakopita.
Step five.
Look up recipes to get inspired. Decide that nothing sounds exciting enough.
Cudgel brain to produce something different, yet still delicious.
Step six.
Realize that there is another food you love that’s sandwiched between layers of
phyllo: baklava. Plus spanakopita? Reject the idea of combining the two. Reject
the rejection.
Step seven.
Poo-poo the idea of shaming this glorious idea by crafting it in the typical
casserole square construction. Rolling it is.
Ingredients
Yields three rolls; half a roll is a meal for
one person
Spanakopita filling
-20–24 oz (two 10
or 12 oz packages) frozen spinach
-2T butter or olive oil (for sautéing)
-1 small onion, small dice
-2 cloves of garlic, minced
-1/8c olive oil
-2 eggs
-24 oz crumbled feta cheese
-1/4c shredded parmesan
-2T lemon juice
-1t nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice
-1T salt
-2t granulated garlic
-2t granulated onion
Baklava filling
-2c walnuts
-1/4c+ honey (You know how honey sticks to the measuring cup…so make it
over-full)
-1t ground cinnamon
-1t sugar
Assembly
-2 sticks of butter, melted
-1 package of phyllo dough (usually two 8 oz packs of ~20 sheets each)
-Honey, for drizzling
-Alcohol of choice, for maintaining sanity
Instructions
1. The day
before you want to cook, open the spinach packages and dump contents into a
colander over a bowl, preferably so the colander is a few inches above the
bottom of the bowl. Leave out on the counter until spinach is on its way to
melting (about 1–2 hours). Place contraption into refrigerator overnight. The
next day, grab handfuls of the spinach and squeeze into the sink (or into the
bowl to save and freeze in a baggie to make vegetable stock) to remove as much
water as possible. This step allows the spinach to dry out a bit, which will
make the cooking-down step much faster. If you’d rather ignore this, plan on
adding another 15–20 minutes to Step 3. Last thing—make sure the phyllo dough,
if frozen, is in the fridge at least overnight to thaw.
2. Add the
2T of olive oil or butter to a medium-sized pan (big enough to fit in all the
spinach). Add onion and garlic and sauté over medium-high heat.
3. Add the
spinach. Stir and cook, uncovered, until the mixture is pretty dry. We want a
moistness close to hour-old brewed coffee grounds—damp, but not drippy/juicy.
If your spinach mixture is too wet, the phyllo will not crisp up. No one likes soggy
bottoms!
4. Take the
spinach pan off heat and let it cool off while you prepare the baklava filling.
5. Either chop
by hand or use a food processor to cut up the nuts. When you have the proper
grind—I like a rough chop, maybe quartering the walnut halves, but do whatever
you prefer—mix in the cinnamon, sugar, and honey. Set aside.
6. Melt 1
stick of butter and get out a pastry brush or basting brush. If you don’t have
one, fold up a paper towel until you’ve got a wad about an inch wide. You can
use this in lieu of a brush.
7.
Hopefully the spinach is relatively cool now. Mix in the cheeses, oil, eggs,
spices, and lemon juice. Spray a lasagna pan or baking sheet with pan spray.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
8. Get out
your phyllo dough. Open only one roll to start. Keep the sheets you’re not
working with covered with plastic wrap so they don’t dry out. If your phyllo
dries out, you’re gonna have a bad time. Seriously…you think I’m overreacting,
because that’s what I thought when all the recipes I looked at reiterated this.
Phyllo is a bunch of very thin dough sheets. Maybe thinner than paper. If they
dry out…you can’t get them apart without ripping them all to hell. In the end,
this doesn’t REALLY matter (you’re slathering the layers with butter-glue and
slapping it all together anyway). But try to keep them happy…and definitely
have a bit of alcohol before starting (this does help). Also helpful if you
have a partner to hand you sheets of phyllo...quick-quick like bunny.
Lay out one
piece of phyllo. Brush it with butter: you don’t need to cover every visible
square millimeter. Hit the edges, hit the middle. It’s not a bad idea to move
quickly (keeping that phyllo un-dry!). Place a second sheet of phyllo on top of
the first and brush that with butter. Repeat until you have about 2/3rd
of the package (~12 sheets of phyllo) in a stack. Do not butter the top of the
last sheet.
9. Orient
the phyllo stack/yourself so that the long edge of the phyllo is facing you.
Grab the spanakopita filling and use a spoon/spatula/your hand to spread 1/3rd
of it on this long edge. Keep away from the short sides about an inch back.
10. Butter
one brush-width along the inner edge of the spanakopita filling.
11. Spread 1/3rd
of the baklava mixture over the rest of the phyllo. Brush some butter on the
top edge.
12. Slide
your fingers under the phyllo and gently roll the dough up. As you roll
forward, also fold the edges in so that the finished roll has tucked edges like
a burrito. Gently squeeze all along the roll to shape it. Place the roll seam
side down on the pan/baking sheet.
13. Repeat
steps 8–12 to produce a second and third spanakoplava roll. If you don’t want
to eat all of the rolls within a few days, freeze the extras now.
14. Brush
the tops and sides of the rolls with butter and drizzle some honey on top. Bake
at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. You want the phyllo to be golden and
crispy and the fillings to be hot. Don't expect nice clean-looking slices...it will be messy. And delicious.
Opa!
